Right...Well...
"Let us do our best, even if it gets us nowhere." Henry Miller

Friday, 2 April 2010

I've taken the plunge

Purely in terms of pages written, I have got ahead of the game. I have introduced my 'buddies' - a sort of Holmes and Watson double act. I have introduced the 'baddie' - a daunting and powerful medium, and her henchmen entourage, plus her loyal followers. I have got a victim, and her protector/helper, currently like a damsel in distress, but I suspect she will reveal hidden strengths.

However, at 16 pages already it has already got a bit flaccid and slack, but this is not the time to tighten up and edit. Blake Snyder builds his 'grid' on a scale of 110 pages, and Script Frenzy asks only for 100 pages, so the exact breaks may vary, but I definitely have to move the Catalyst (Call the Adventure) back a bit.

3. Set-Up (1-10): My Buddy duo go to investigate this murky world, the one (Sam Hill) to see if he can find evidence of something useful and interesting, his side-kick (John Watts) to prove to him once and for all that the dream and hope of telepathy (let alone survival of death) is an illusion, and a dangerous one.

4. Catalyst (12): A young woman (Daisy) asks for their help to get her elderly aunt out from under this malevolent influence - a mediumistic circuit dominated by Eve Vera Poulter.

5. Debate (12-25): They investigate the true nature of this movement, and duel verbally about whether there is anything of value in it at all. They are under observation, and rightly paranoid.

6. Break into Two (25) This will be where Sam enthusiastically determines to help Daisy and her aunt, if he can - and John reluctantly agrees to help, too.

7. B Story (30): I hope I can introduce here a young female medium who foxes them both, scares and attracts them a little, and is part of the 'school' of EVP.

I won't bore you with my very sketchy plans to reach the halfway point (let's face it, I still can't quite decide on it being a high point, from which they descend into the maelstrom, or whether it should represent the lowest point they reach, and from which they have to climb out).